Multimedia Editor and Host Jennifer Pierce shares highlights from ASSEMBLY Audible's September podcasts.

Can the length of a wire harness routed in a wind turbine tower 394 feet tall and connected to a control cabinet in a nacelle be precisely determined by a computer? Yes, it can.

A typical Porsche sports car contains more than 2,000 individual wires. If laid end to end, the wiring would stretch 2 to 3 kilometers. Designing such a complex wiring system would be challenge enough, but at Porsche, almost no harness design in series production matches another one.

Most challenges manufacturers face involve the assembly process of one or more of their products. Sometimes, though, a company struggles with where to locate its headquarters or build another plant for market expansion.

Crop sprayers play a vital role in professional farm management. Farmers and farming contractors rely on this equipment to evenly apply exact amounts of nutrients and protectants on hundreds of acres on demand—although it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Mergers, acquisitions and partnerships are risky endeavors for managers, as well as workers. Sometimes these transactions favor one group over another, or end up being disastrous for both groups. Other times, however, the deal turns out great for everyone.

MADISON, WI—Researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison and Drexel University are developing a rich set of computational tools that would allow manufacturers to account for the material complexity of a sophisticated product within a single computer model.